Encyclopedia of

Francis Crick

Born June 8, 1916, in Northampton, England; died of colon cancer, July 28,
2004, in San Diego, California. Scientist. Called "one of the most
brilliant and influential scientists of all time," by Richard A.
Murphy, the president of Salk Institute, in Patricia Sullivan's
Washington Post
article, Francis Crick discovered, along with James Watson, the
double-helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This one
discovery has been called one of the most important in modern times. DNA,
the blueprint of life, is the thing responsible for heredity. This
discovery made it possible for the fields of genetic engineering and
biotechnology and for most of the advances in medicine in the late 20th
century and beyond.

Crick was born in Northampton, England, in 1916. The area was famous for
its cobbling businesses, and Crick's father, Harry, ran a shoe
factory. Crick was a curious boy and his parents bought him a
children's encyclopedia when he was young that helped answer a lot
of his questions. So many things were being discovered and so many
questions answered as he grew up that Crick once admitted to his mother
that he was afraid that by the time he grew up everything would have been
discovered. He need not have worried. He attended Northampton Grammar
School before going to a boarding school in London. After graduation Crick
attended University College in London, earning a bachelor's degree
in physics in 1937. He had just started work on a Ph.D. in physics at
University College when World War II started. He joined the military and
served as a scientist at the British Admiralty during the war, designing
magnetic and acoustic underwater mines. When he returned to his studies he
realized that he was more interested in molecular biology than physics,
and he began his studies at the Cavendish Laboratory.

Crick went to Cambridge University in the early 1950s where he met James
Watson. The two men discovered a shared interest in DNA and began
researching together, with Crick often leading the quest. As a person,
Crick was quite an individual. Mark S. Bretscher in the
Independent
said of Crick, "Francis Crick's greatest assets were his
curiosity and ruthless intellect . He could be uncharacteristically mean
to a pompous speaker; his presence at meetings made sure everyone was on
their toes. He had a fine sense for aesthetic elegance, reflected in his
scientific discoveries and writing. His wonderful humor, accompanied by a
somewhat raucous laugh, was infectious. He was a great
entertainer." It was often this verve and humor that helped along
the strenuous research into the obscure nature of DNA.

Scientists at the time knew that cells had a nuclei that contained DNA,
but no one knew what its function was. Crick and Watson were convinced
that DNA contained the clue to heredity, but that no one had proved this
yet. After much research, the pair discovered the spiral ladder shape of
DNA and gleaned from this discovery the information about DNA that has
become the prevalent and accepted belief. The spiral staircase, they
discovered, is actually made up of four different chemicals that make up
the "steps" of the ladder. These steps repeat and form a
pattern or code. Areas of this code form genes, which carry the blueprints
for proteins. Proteins do most of the work in the body and carry out most
of its functions, so basically DNA controls everything that a body is and
does. The report of the double-helix form of DNA was first reported in the
May 23, 1953, edition of the British journal
Nature.
Crick's wife, Odile Speed, an artist who generally painted nudes,
created the first model of the DNA double-helix for the men, and
Watson's sister typed up the article.

It was an amazing, life-altering discovery that since that time has been
used for just about everything medical. This one discovery gave rise to
the biotechnology industry. According to Sullivan in the
Washington Post,
"The discovery helped scientists understand how humans inherit
traits and how that system of inheritance further explains
evolution." The discovery has also led to the ability to clone
animals. Crick and Watson were awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1962
for their discovery.

After the DNA discovery Crick continued his research at Cambridge
University's Medical Research Council into the mid-1970s, with a
focus on the genetics of viruses, protein synthesis, and embryology. In
1976 he took a one-year sabbatical at the Salk Institute for Biological
Studies, which he liked so much that in 1977 he moved to La Jolla,
California, to work full-time, even holding the position of president of
the Salk Institute for a while. At the institute, Crick transferred his
focus to the study of the brain and the nature of consciousness. He held
the title of J.W. Kieckhefer distinguished professor at the institute
until his death. He was also an adjunct professor at the University of
California at San Diego.

While he was involved in his research and teaching, Crick was also
actively publishing books about his research. In 1981 he published the
book
Life Itself,
which discusses the idea that life began on Earth when microorganisms
wafted in from space. It was a shocking, controversial idea and he later
came to regret the book. In 1994 he published
The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the Soul,
a treatise on consciousness.

After a long bout of illness, Crick died on July 28, 2004, of colon cancer
in San Diego, California; he was 88. Watson, Crick's one-time
partner, looked back at his friendship with Crick on the CNN website,
"I will always remember Francis for his extraordinarily focused
intelligence and for the many ways he showed me kindness and developed my
self-confidence . I always looked forward to being with him and speaking
to him, up until the moment of his death. He will be sorely
missed." During his lifetime Crick married Ruth Doreen Dodd, but
the couple divorced after seven years. They had one son, Michael F. C.
Crick. He married Odile Speed, a French artist, in 1949 and had two
daughters, Gabrielle and Jacqueline. He is survived by his wife, three
children, and four grandchildren.